Senior Fellow, Global Cities,
Chicago Council on Global Affairs

CHICAGO

Gerald Lawless

Chairman, World Travel & Tourism Council

DUBAI

Demetrius Amparan

Communications Manager,
A Better Chicago

CHICAGO

2017 Workshop Reports

Global leaders, including mayors, CEOs, artists, and policy experts, explored solutions to complex policy issues confronting global cities at workshops during the 2017 Chicago Forum. The discussions and outcomes are summarized in aseries of brief reports that also will guide conversations throughout the year leading up to the 2018 Chicago Forum on Global Cities.

How do we balance the tension between progressive urban policies and increasingly insular national agendas? How can global cities decrease the growing divide between cities’ and regional populations? How can collective action among a nation’s cities transform their national policies on issues such as immigration, climate, and trade? Are the urban elite out of touch with today’s realities?

Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sweden

Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Former Administrator, United Nations Development Programme

Eduardo Paes, Former Mayor, Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

John Tory, Mayor, City of Toronto, Canada

Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, Financial Times

Moderated by Ivo Daalder, President, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Cities currently account for 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – what are the priorities for adapting existing city infrastructure to reverse this trend? How can private sector innovations lead the effort in global cities to combat climate change? How much do cities need the cooperation and collaboration of national governments in order to realize their local climate action ambitions/goals?

What are the infrastructure demands and who are the stakeholders needed to be engaged to be a resilient city in the 21st century? How can cities prepare for, prevent, or most effectively respond to the natural and man-made disasters our cities will face? How can local, national, and international agencies better coordinate to improve resilience and security?

Demetrius Amparan,Communications Manager, A Better Chicago

How do global cities manage wellbeing and deliver the living conditions needed to create a thriving, healthy ecosystem? How does urban design contribute to equity of access for diverse populations? What examples are there of cities leading healthcare reform? How do we ensure new urban development reflects the research to create happy cities?

Robert Doyle, Lord Mayor, City of Melbourne, Australia

Charles Montgomery, Founder and Principal, Happy City

Michael Nutter, Former Mayor, City of Philadelphia; Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia SIPA

Fernando Straface, Secretary-General of Government and Foreign Affairs, City of Buenos Aires

Ella Overkleeft,Cofounder, Night-Mayor Foundation, Amsterdam

How do cities keep cultures of the past alive, vibrant, and relevant while ensuring resources are available to nurture and support the emergence and growth of new city culture? How do artists use art, theater, and music to provoke a new dialogue about diversity and inclusion? How does public art transform the public’s understanding of global realities and redefine the use of public space? How does new technology help to increase access to the cultural heritage of cities – both across city neighborhoods and from the city to the regional?

Brendan Carr, Lord Mayor, City of Dublin, Ireland

Jeanne Gang, Founding Principal, Studio Gang

Theaster Gates, Founder, Rebuild Foundation; Director, Arts and Public Life, University of Chicago

Mary Miss, Founder, City as Living Labratory; Artist in Residence, New York City Department of Design and Construction

What policy priorities are needed for global cities to drive more sustainable and inclusive prosperity? How does today’s technology revolution affect how cities build a strong, enduring, middle class? How are cities providing access to the skills and training needed for city youth to fill the jobs of tomorrow? Can global cities grow a thriving creative class without a new urban crisis perpetuating small areas of affluence aside much larger areas of disadvantage?

Richard Florida, Professor and Author, The New Urban Crisis

Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO, Hyatt Hotels Corporation

Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to Former President Barack Obama; Chair, White House Council on Women and Girls

Denis Mizne, CEO, Lemann Foundation

Claudio Orrego, Governor, Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile

Moderated by Edward Luce, Chief US Commentator and Columnist, Financial Times

What is the role of private capital and public-private partnerships in shaping the future of cities? How are technology, innovation, and data transforming urban economies? Will the workplace disruption of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other technological advances, also change how capital markets operate and how profit and risk are calculated? How successful have efforts been to recast measures of growth to focus on sustainable, inclusive prosperity? How will the growth of global cities in the developing world shape the global economy?

Fernando Romero, Architect and Founder, Fernando Romero Enterprise

With over 65 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people worldwide, and little over 105,000 of UN-assessed refugees resettled annually, what can global cities to do to help solve this crisis? What can be learned from the different experiences of cities responding to the immediate needs of refugees and cities working on long-term integration efforts of economic migrants? How are global cities transforming the language of crisis into one of opportunity? How do we turn best practice into global action now?